Nicola Sturgeon completes U-turn and pledges outcomes of ministerial misconduct probes will be made public

The outcomes of ministerial misconduct probes will be made public if they are partially or fully upheld by the Scottish Government in a U-turn amid a series of transparency rows.

In June, officials told The Scotsman it was not in the public interest for the outcome of any misconduct complaint made against previous and current SNP or Green ministers to be released. This meant the outcomes of any investigation, including potential bullying or harassment complaints, would have been kept secret.

This was justified on data protection grounds and the suggestion that publishing the outcomes of complaints would lead to civil servants being less likely to come forward when there are issues.

However, following pressure from the opposition, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has committed to examining the possibility of publishing future outcomes of misconduct investigation – a U-turn the government has now completed.

Where a formal complaint is upheld either in full or partially, ministers will be named and the outcome published, alongside a redacted version of the decision report to protect the identity of the complainant. The number of complaints made will now be published every six months.

The name of ministers who faced complaints which were not upheld will also be published online for a period of six months, the Government said.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the move would improve transparency while protecting complainants.

He said: “The First Minister advised the Scottish Parliament in June that the ministerial code and complaints procedure would be updated with regards to future complaints. The Scottish Government is determined to build a culture in which concerns are addressed early and in which all those who are involved with a complaint have confidence and can engage constructively and fairly in the process.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to publish the outcomes of misconduct investigations into ministers.

It remains unclear why historic outcomes of probes cannot be made public using the same method. The complaints made against Fergus Ewing, the SNP veteran and former minister, which saw three civil servants make allegations of bullying behaviour while he was in Government, appear to be set to remain secret. Mr Ewing was said to have rejected the complaints made against him.

An updated version of the ministerial code will also be published in the near future.

Ministers came under fresh pressure around the complaints against Mr Ewing after the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) ruled the Government had wrongly withheld details of the number of civil servants sacked for misconduct. This included staff sacked for bullying, harassment, drugs or alcohol, with ministers initially relying on GDPR rules to keep the information secret.

Wendy Chamberlain, the Scottish Liberal Democrat deputy leader, said the changes appeared to be a way of brushing complaints against Mr Ewing “under the carpet”. She said: “Ever since the allegations against Alex Salmond broke there have been real questions over how well put together the Scottish Government's complaints process is.

"It is to be hoped that this new process will improve both complaints handling and transparency going forward. However, it looks as if it is also a convenient way to shuffle complaints against Fergus Ewing under the carpet.

"The public still have no idea whether a senior cabinet figure was subject to any sanction after complaints about their behaviour."

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